Search Results for: island-on-the-edge

Anne Cholawo was a typical 80s career girl working in a busy London advertising agency, when in 1989, holidaying in Skye, she noticed an advert for a property on the Isle of Soay – 'Access by courtesy of fishing boat'. She had never heard of Soay before, let alone visited it, but something inexplicable drew her there. Within ten minutes of stepping off the said fishing boat, she had fallen under the spell of the island, and after a few months she moved there to live. She is still there. When she arrived on the remote west coast island there were only 17 inhabitants, among them the legendary Hebridean sharker Tex Geddes and his family. Today, including Anne and her husband Robert, there are only three. This book describes her extraordinary transition from a hectic urban lifestyle to one of rural isolation and self-sufficiency, without mains electricity, medical services, shops or any of the other modern amenities we take for granted. Anne describes the history of Soay and its unique wildlife, and as well as telling her own personal story introduces along the way some of the off-beat and colourful characters associated with the island, notably Tex's one-time associate, the celebrated writer and naturalist, Gavin Maxwell.
Posted in Biography & Autobiography

For more than two thousand years the people of St Kilda remained remote from the world. Their society was viable, utopian even; but in the nineteenth century the islands were discovered by missionaries, do-gooders and tourists, who brought with them money, disease and despotism. In 1930, the few remaining islanders were evacuated, no longer able to support themselves. An exploration of the life and death of the remote Hebridean society, Island on the Edge of the World is a moving account of human endeavour.
Posted in History

The first novel by Guy New York, The Island on the Edge of Normal, follows James from New York City to the coast of Maine where he struggles to forget his past by destroying his memories one page at a time. As he settles into his new life, he finds himself falling in love with Issa, the married women whose house he is sharing. When he learns that Issa and Paul have an open marriage he’s forced to make decisions he’s tried hard to avoid. But the more comfortable he becomes, the more his past returns, until suddenly it arrives on the island in the form of Jane, the woman he’s been trying so hard to forget. Even as James learns about non-jealous husbands, handsome tourists, and growing up on the edge of normal, he’s still consumed by guilt, fear, and a deep-seated anger that he doesn’t fully understand and can’t let go. A tale of love, lust, and redemption, The Island on the Edge of Normal pushes the boundaries of what it means to create, destroy, and forgive.
Posted in Fiction

This is the first English-language anthology on the Taiwan New Cinema and its legacy. It is an exciting collection which covers all the major filmmakers from Hou Hsiao Hsien and Edward Yang to Ang Lee and more. Gathering a range of essays that analyze individual films produced since the advent of the Taiwan New Cinema in the early 1980s, it aims to complement Feii Lu’s Taiwan Cinema: Politics, Economics, Aesthetics, translated by Chris Berry (Duke University Press and Hong Kong University Press, forthcoming). Taiwan and its internationally renowned cinema ar " on the edge" in more ways than one. For all of its history the island has been on the edge of larger geopolitical entities, subjected to invasions, migrations, incursions, and pressures. On the other hand, as one of the "Little Tiger" economies of Asia, it has been on the cutting edge of the Asian economic boom and of technological innovation; in recent years it has pioneered democratization of authoritarian regimes in East Asia.
Posted in Social Science

When Asha accepts a mission to recover a sacred stone capable of raising the dead, she doesn't expect her ship to be attacked high above an unknown world. To their shock, Asha and her commander Mira are dragged into the planet's wild ocean, and Asha barely manages to escape a vast underwater complex. Once she reaches the surface, she discovers a mysterious island that comes to life with dancing villagers and roaring bonfires every night, only to vanish without a trace each morning, leaving her feeling alone and confused. Yet there are greater struggles ahead for Asha. Having followed them, the vicious Vakragha are desperate to find the stone first, bent on using it to revive their greatest mastermind. And when Asha finds Mira on the verge of death, the full burden of the mission falls on her shoulders. Time is running out, and Asha must rely on her courage, intuition, and healing skills to have any hope of survival. But she soon discovers that the Vakragha aren't the only ones searching desperately for the sacred stone.... A fast-paced, tropical Sci-Fi novel inspired by the Big Island of Hawaii, THE ISLAND ON THE EDGE OF FOREVER is a great place to start in the Epic of Aravinda series.
Posted in Fiction

Easter Island, an isolated speck in the Pacific Ocean, produced one of the most fascinating and yet least understood of ancient cultures. Who were the inhabitants of this unimaginably remote volcanic island? Where did they come from? What, and equally intriguing, how did they erect the giant stone statues found all over the island? And what became of their civilization? - ;Easter Island, an unimaginably remote volcanic island in the Pacific Ocean, produced one of the most fascinating and yet least understood prehistoric cultures. Who were its inhabitants, and where did they come from? Why, and equally intriguingly, how did they erect the giant stone statues found all over the island? Paul Bahn and John Flenley tackle these and a host of other questions, introducing us, along the way, to the bizarre birdman cult found in the island's art, and the only recently deciphered Rongorongo script engraved on wooden panels. The Enigmas of Easter Island combines a wealth of new archaeological evidence, intriguing folk memories and the records of Captain Cook and other early explorers, to reveal how the island's decline may stem from ecological catastrophe. The result is a fascinating portrait of a civilization which still retains many of its mysteries. This book, originally published in 1992, was hailed as the best account of Easter Island ever written. Now it has been brought substantially up to date with a wealth of new material. -
Posted in History

Fletcher Christian and the mutineers from The Bounty sank their ship and settled on Pitcairn, the most remote island in the Pacific. This is their story over two centuries. Then came three generations of Chauvels (beginning with Charles Chauvels film, "In the Wake of the Bounty", to provide intimate perspectives on the descendants of the mutineers on this island that has been both paradise and hell.
Posted in Bounty Mutiny, 1789

Zandra ‘Zee’ Parfitt is one of the last human survivors of a cosmic disaster that merged hundreds of planets into the mysterious patchwork wasteland of Chimerika. After learning that the experiments of her late father, the diabolical Doctor Once, created this world, Zee and her companions — classmate Erik Farrell and mermaid warrior Morgan — embark on a dangerous quest filled with robots, monsters, unknown civilizations, and unlikely allies. Together they push back against the relentless Consortium, who want control of this new world at any cost. Through it all, Zee searches for the truth of her past so she can redeem her father’s legacy. From the award-winning team behind THE ONLY LIVING BOY, David Gallaher and Steve Ellis bring you THE ONLY LIVING GIRL, an action-packed adventure perfect for fans of AMULET, MS. MARVEL, and DC SUPER HERO GIRLS.
Posted in Juvenile Fiction